Star car

Cates puts Battier's former Lincoln up for grabs on eBay

Soon after Shane Battier became the Memphis Grizzlies' first draft pick in 2001, he started hunting for a car like the one he had in high school -- a 1983 Lincoln Town Car.

Eventually, a friend found a 1981 Blackhawk model in Arizona, fitted it with a leopard skin interior and a top-of-the-line sound system and drove it to Memphis for Battier.

"When we realized we were not driving it too much, we decided to put it up for sale by Stax," said Heidi Battier, Shane's wife.

That was two years ago, when Battier, now a Houston Rockets player, and then-teammate Brian Cardinal and their wives organized Staxtacular to benefit the Stax Music Academy.

Elizabeth Cates paid $10,000 for the Lincoln.

Now, she has put it up for bid on eBay -- to raise money for the Stax Music Academy.

"We (she and her husband, Staley Cates, a minority-share owner of the Grizzlies) always planned to do that," Cates said.

"We thought this would be a great way to get it back out in the community, raise more money for Stax and let other people enjoy it. It's a smooth ride. It's a great date car."

While the leopard skin interior, stereo system and wheels may be worth more than the rest of the car, Cates said, she added some value, too, putting several thousand dollars into fixing the engine, among other things.

"Shane's still got a lot of fans here," said Kerry Hayes, development manager for Soulsville, the nonprofit agency that runs Stax Music Academy and Stax Museum of American Soul Music. "We're hoping one of them will step up and see that the car stays here."

The Battiers are all for that.

"Even though we're not in Memphis anymore, we're glad a little part of us is," Heidi Battier said. Shane is in China this week, promoting basketball and basketball shoes, she said.

"Anything to help out Stax, we're behind," she said.

So are the Grizzlies.

The Memphis Grizzlies Foundation has provided $1.5 million in grants to Soulsville, the academy and museum since 2003, said Jenny Koltnow, executive director of the Grizzlies Foundation.

"They're great at what they do," she said of the Soulsville folks. "They've reached out to kids in the neighborhood, provide tremendous performance and educational opportunities for the children in the academy, and the charter school is really filling a need."

She said the people of the agency see music as a way to reel kids in, giving them the vehicle -- excuse the pun -- and support to be successful.

As for the real vehicle, bidding ends at 8 a.m. Saturday. If you're interested, go to eBay Motors and search item number 200127380853.